Fiorentina host defending champions Juventus at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on Sunday, the 20th of October 2013.

Preview: Old Lady to take advantage of Fiorentina’s shaky start

The Viola have won just three of the seven matches they have played in the league so far and sit sixth in the Serie A table with 12 points. Vincenzo Montella’s men have also failed to win in their last three outings and to make matter worse for Fiorentina their record against their counterparts has been disappointing as of late.

Fiorentina have not just failed to defeat Juve in their last ten consecutive meetings but have also failed to score against Bianconeri in the past three clashes between the two sides. The Gigliati last managed to score a victory over the defending champions back in March 2008 and Fiorentina forward Giuseppe Rossi who has rejuvenated his career with six goals in all competitions this season is hoping to end his team’s woeful run against the Turin side.

"We've had two horrible draws at home against Cagliari and Parma. We need the three points," said Rossi according to BBC.

"The priority now is try to beat Juventus. They are in a strong position for the title, but the other teams are not far behind."

The former Villarreal man also highlighted the importance of Juve’s talismanic midfielder Andrea Pirlo and claimed that limiting down the 34 year olds creativity will be integral to his team’s success

"All I want to do right now is try to beat Juventus. If you are able to limit the influence of Andrea Pirlo then you have a nice advantage."

They will however be against a side which has been impeccable as of late. The Old Lady have not lost a single competitive match since being knocked out of the Champions League by eventual winners Bayern Munich.

They might be lagging behind the likes of Roma and Napoli being third in the league, but with Napoli dropping points on Friday against the league leaders, Juve will be looking to pounce at their counterparts misfortune to leapfrog them for second place.

In their last outing against AC Milan, Juve put an impressive performance and after going a goal down courtesy of a Sulley Ali Muntari goal in the first minute, Conte’s men scored thrice and despite a late second goal from Muntari the Old Lady notched up all three points.

Chilean international Arturo Vidal who returned late from international duty after missing out on a flight back to Turin, might sit out of the tie having missed two training sessions ahead of the important match against Fiorentina. Antonio Conte is yet to rule him out of the tie but has reminded the 26 year old to adhere to the club’s principles.

“The Vidal question is very simple: I haven't spoken to him yet but I will be asking him why he returned a day late and missed two training sessions,” said the Italian.

"There are rules at this club, and the same rules apply to everyone."

Fabio Quagliarella on the other hand is set to miss Sunday’s clash through injury and could be accompanied on the injury table by Mirko Vučinić, Simone Pepe and Martín Cáceres all of whom are major doubts.

Fiorentina’s star signing Mario Gómez will continue to nurse his knee ligament injury he suffered back in September in a match against Cagliari whereas defender Ahmed Hegazy and forward Ante Rebić have also been ruled out of the tie, with David Pizarro a doubt for the clash against Juventus.

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